Colburn

Variation – Colborn, Colbern
Racial Origin – Welsh
Source – A locality

These surnames belong to the classification o those which have been derived from places, their first application having been to distinguish the individual by reference to his place of residence or former place of residence, in addition to his given name.

Had the name been an English instead of a Welsh development, it would have been “Hazelhill,” and in the sense of meaning alone it would be put in the same classification with such English family names as Hazelholt, Hazelhurst and Hazelton.

The Welsh form of the name, however, is neither Coburn, Colborn, nor Colbern, but “Colbrin” or “Colbryn.” It is a compound of the word “bryn,” meaning a “hill,” and “coll,” which designates the hazel plant in the ancient tongue of the Cymric branch of the Celtic race.

It is to be noted that a much heavier proportion of family names from the Welsh and Cornish tongues belong in the classification of place names than among the Gaelic branches of the Celts; that is to say, the Irish and the Scottish. The reason for this lies in the higher development of the clan system among the latter and a development of the clan nomenclature which was virtually a system of family names.  As early as the tenth century this system was crystallized by royal-edict in Ireland.  But in Wales patronymics held strictly to use as definitely descriptive of the individual’s parentage, often becoming virtual genealogies of up to a dozen names, finally to be discarded for place name.